


Drugged

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [13]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Natasha, Clint Is a Good Bro, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Mind Games, Movie Night, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Steve had a great voice, Team as Family, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5381486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony decided he was going to write a book or pamphlet or something and send it to all the would-be villians, instructing them on how to properly get information.</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>The one where Tony gets drugged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drugged

"Jokes on you," said Tony from his spot bound to the wooden chair. "Drugging me isn't going to get the reaction you want."

"Stark, shut up," hissed Natasha over the screen, her eyes flitting around the tablet as she searched for any clues that would get them Tony's location faster.

"Two minutes," whispered Bruce from his computer just out of sight of Natasha.

The call had come in ten minutes ago onto the tablet. At first, it was the usual recorded threats in exchange for a life, then there were images flashing through of Tony, bound and being tortured, until they eventually settled on Stark in the chair via live feed.

"This isn't a drug you're familiar with," said the deep voice of a man from behind a smiley face mask. "It's one of my own making. It'll trap you in your mind, making you relive your worst nightmares. They'll appear real, you won't know where you are, and all your friends can do is watch as you scream and thrash and make a fool of yourself."

"To what end?" asked Tony, eyeing the needle as it made a slow approach to his arm. "What can you possibly gain from this? You can't win, you know that."

"I get to watch you suffer like I had to suffer when my son was sent to war and killed with your weapons," snapped the man before he stabbed the needle into Tony's arm and let the mint green liquid flow into his system.

Then he walked away, shutting and locking the door.

The Avengers waited with bated breath for the drugs to take effect. Bruce still scanned the map as Jarvis steadily narrowed down the possible location list, Clint flew in the direction of the red zone, Natasha studied the other person on the other side of the screen, and Steve secured the parachute around his frame, ready to jump out if there wasn't a safe place to land.

On the screen, Tony was frozen, eyes closed,the only indication that he was alive being the unsteady rise and fall of his chest. The didn't even twitch, gave no sign that he could feel, he just sat there breathing.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Steve, looking over Natasha's shoulder at the screen. "Shouldn't the drug have taken hold of his mind by now?"

"Got it!" yelled Bruce, shouting exact coordinates to Clint.

They flew faster than was legal to the location, all more worried by Tony's lack of response than they would have been had he been screaming. Yelling, waving arms, and cursing were normal for the billionaire, silence was not.

(In the room)

Just before the needle had entered his arm, Tony had retreated into his mind, which he had set up like a castle. When he was younger, he had organized his mind like a computer, setting up files and icons to find quickly. Everything was in order, had a place, and was well labeled. It had stayed that way, new files and icons being created as needed, until Obidiah had him kidnapped. In that cave, he had to quickly reorder his mind to fit the situation. He knew that torture was coming, knew there was a reason he was kept alive, so before he had opened his eyes initially, he had taken down all the files and icons in his mind and made it into a castle.

Every file got a room, each category got a wing, and when the torture finally came, Tony managed to hide in his safe room, empty of anything but a marker an equations, away from the pain and demands. The walls were filled with his own plans, scribbled in various colored markers, but they kept him calm.

He knew the drugs would open all the locked doors of his mind, there were lots of rooms he h ad vowed never to open and risk unleashing what was inside, but he knew the drugs would do just that, so in an attempt to avoid the pain and fear he had already lived through, Tony had shut his eyes, retreated into mis mind castle, and ran down the red carpeted halls to his safe room, slamming and locking the thick door an instant before the needle pierced his skin.

When he looked around the room, he was taken aback and moderately worried that he had entered the wrong room- as unlikely as that was. The walls held equations and plans, markers were strewn about where he had left them the last time he visited, but for the first time, he was not alone.

"Well shit," said Tony, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess the drug is stronger than I thought."

"You know, for a genius you're a right idiot sometimes," said Clint with his smirk.

"We're here because it's your safe place," explained Bruce, always the helpful one. "You trust us to keep you safe so we're here to do that."

"That's stupid," said Tony, sitting tailor style on the floor, fingers drumming absently. "I don't even like you guys all that much. Why on earth would I expect you to keep me safe?"

"You don't," said Steve, crouching next to Tony, his voice soft and understanding, melting against Tony's ears until he decided to make his next AI's voice sound like Steve's. "Bruce isn't entirely wrong, you do trust us in battle to keep you safe. But you have us here in your safe place because you want to keep us from harm."

"Why on earth would I want to do something like that?"

"Because you care about us," teased Clint, only half joking. "You like us, you want to protect us, you're just a big softy."

Tony stuck out his tongue in a mature fashion, the sounds of his mind outside the room increasing to an indistinguishable dull roar as memory after repressed memory were released from their rooms.

"This is an impressive room," said Natasha, looking around in appreciation, talking more to keep Tony for worrying about the chaos outside. "Why did you build it?"

"It's not safe out there, so I needed a place to hide," shrugged Tony.

"I always pegged you for a computer setup kind of guy," admitted Clint, perching on a shelf that was built in the corner. "This is set up like a spy's mind."

"What do you mean?" asked Bruce as he studied the equations on the wall.

"Well, your mind is probably organized like a computer, am I right? You have different files set up for information."

"Yes."

"And Steve's mind would look like a map because he thinks in strategy. Each section of the map has different information."

"Okay."

"But Tony has his mind set up like a spy, like Natasha and I. He has rooms, locked doors, wings, and a safe room. That's not natural. That's something normally only spy's have to withstand torture."

"Did I not tell you about the time I was kidnapped and asked to make weapons?" said Tony, one eyebrow raising in surprise.

"It's not in your file," said Steve, almost accusingly.

"Yes well that's because I deleted it," smirked Tony. "That file was boring, so I added dragons instead. Dragons are cool."

"No, bow ties are cool," said Clint.

"The point is," said Tony loudly. "I got kidnapped a few years back. I knew they were going to ask me to build them weapons, so I had to build rooms before they could."

"You build yourself a castle without training?"

"I'm Tony Stark, I do what I want."

Bruce, Natasha, Clint, and Steve waited.

"Look it was either reorganize my mind or be shattered by some crazy men in a cave," hedged Tony. "This seemed like the better option, though now I'm not so sure, considering I never meant for anyone else to get in."

"We're figments of your imagination," said Natasha. "We're only here because you want us here. You want us safe."

The rest of his mind was pounding at the door, making Tony cringe, holding his head as if that would stop it. The drug wanted to take hold of him completely and he was loosing his grip, the walls of his safe room shaking.

"Tony, you can do this," said Steve, getting up and bracing his shoulders against the door. "You're stronger than this."

"You're the one who said you knew guys worth ten of me," snapped Tony, his body trembling with the effort of keeping the rest of his mind out.

"I was wrong," said Steve. "I'm sorry. But you've got to fight this. You can do it, Stark. You're not alone this time."

Tony peeked out from his hands, taking in the scene around him. Thor was bracing the ceiling with his massive hands. Bruce was poised in the far corner of the room, staring intently at the door, ready to spring into action should the need arise. Clint was still in his perch, bow at the ready. Natasha was crouched next to Tony in a protective stance, and Steve was still pushed against the door, trying to keep out the horrors he hadn't known existed in his comrades mind.

The was the last thing Tony saw before the room exploded in a black mess.

(With the Avengers)

"Why isn't he moving?" questioned Steve. "He should be moving by now, right?"

"Not all of us are super soldiers," snapped Clint. "It's only been a few hours."

The Avengers had arrived just minutes after the drug was administered to Tony, catching the would be villain on his exit and getting Tony immediate medical assistance in the form of Bruce, who had taken it upon himself to become an actual medical doctor after the events in New York three years before. His main motivation had come after living with Tony for a few months and learning of his extreme aversion to doctors or hospitals.

Tony was on the couch of the Avenger Tower, unaware of the world around him as he had been since he had been found several hours before.

"I'm putting on a movie," said Natasha, unable to sit still any longer. "Looks like we're in for a long night. Right Bruce?"

"It's difficult to say," said Bruce, sitting in his usual armchair. "The drug wore off about thirty minutes ago, so I have to assume his mind is trying to decide if it's safe to come out yet. Tony can be stubborn, so it could take a while."

Natasha put in a bad monster movie entitled Sea Beast and settled on the couch, pulling Tony's head into her lap so she could pet his hair. Clint sprawled out on top of the couch, one hand resting on Natasha's shoulder more to ground himself with the family feeling of her than for balance. Steve sat at the other end of the couch, Tony's feet in his lap, using the heat coming off the smaller mans body to remind him the they were all alive and safe, if a little worse for wear. Bruce stayed in his armchair, away from the others but close enough to be aware of every movement.

They were half way through the movie when Tony blinked open his eyes. The scene around him was so familiar, so ordinary, that he was uncertain of where his reality was.

"Was that a really sick dream?" asked Tony quietly to himself.

"If you mean the part where you got yourself kidnapped, tortured, and drugged, no," said Natasha quietly. "But we saved your ass like usual."

"So not a dream," yawned Tony, snuggling more into the warmth the surrounded him. "Good to know."

"I'm glad you're okay," said Bruce, smiling from his chair. "You gave us a scare."

"Why didn't the drug work on you?" asked Steve, patting Tony's shin gently. "You just sort of froze."

"I did try to warn him that it wouldn't work the way he wanted," said Tony. "No one ever listens to me though."

"If you don't shut your mouth I'm going to stitch it shut with one of my arrows," threatened Clint, which was almost like him saying he was happy everything worked out. "Seriously, you're ruining the movie."

"You can't ruin what's already broken," muttered Tony. He wasn't sure if he was talking about the movie or himself.


End file.
